Blanket Angels - You can support MVOB by simply forwarding this newsletter to a friend or two. Thanks!
|
|
|
|
Special thanks to all Foster Parents and Foster Mentors for their extraordinary ability to open their hearts and homes.
And thanks to all of our Blanket Angels for providing love and hope to a child in foster care in the form of a handmade blanket.
|
|
|
|
Goal for 2020: Blankets for
25,000
Children in Foster Care
Together we can do it, one blanket at a time! Current number:
4,546
My Very Own Blanket is still up and running to bring blankets of love, comfort and hope to children in foster care. Here is how you can help us do just that!
- Order blanket kits online here. Use our "curbside" pick up and drop off bin just outside our Blanket Workshop to safely receive and donate your blankets!
- Drop off your quilted, crocheted and knitted blankets in the donation bin outside our workshop. We gather them up daily and count them in. (Jessica adds new donations to our blanket total on the computer above.)
- Not local to Central Ohio? Sponsor our "no-sew" blanket kits online to have them sent to you. We will help you get in contact with your local children's services to deliver to kids in care in your area!
|
|
Ohio provides 'safety net' for foster youth during COVID-19 crisis
Over the next three months, more than 200 youth will turn 18 and "age out" of Ohio's foster care system. On April 24, Governor Mike DeWine announced that the state will cover the costs for all of these youths to stay in care until the COVID-19 pandemic ends. "No child leaves foster care during this pandemic," DeWine said.
This option also will be available for the young people in the Ohio Children's Alliance's
Bridges Program
.
Bridges extends housing and other supportive services to eligible young adults who leave foster care on or after their 18th birthday but are not yet 21, to help them more successfully transition to independence.
The young people turning 21 over the next few months will be able to stay in the Bridges program, to help them maintain housing, jobs, and education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
See 10TV WBNS video coverage
My Very Own Blanket reserves some of its larger donated blankets for the youth in the Bridges program.
|
|
Former foster youth sends a Buckeye quilt, and a message of hope, from Australia
|
This letter was enclosed in a box mailed from Australia by a woman who spent time in foster care during her teen years.
We are very grateful to Tracy, both for the quilt she sent and for the message of hope she included for other youth in foster care.
|
|
|
My name is Tracy and I would like to donate this blanket to your charity.
I ordered a beautiful sympathy blanket for my daughter’s birthday, after she lost one of her 3-year-old twins. After several months of waiting (it was being made to order), and just in time for Christmas, it finally arrived. Only when I opened it, it was the wrong blanket. It was this blanket.
Somewhat disappointed, I didn’t see the point of returning it. What with all the hassles, I threw it in a cupboard and forgot about it over the holidays.
I recently started thinking about what I could do with the blanket and thought I would go online and look for a charity, in Ohio USA, that I could donate it to, as it is a specialized subject matter after all, LOL. It is my hope that this blanket can go to an Ohio State football fan.
Read the rest of Tracy's letter
|
|
|
|
We're making masks; you can help
Blanket fleece is now sharing shelf space in the MVOB workshop with handmade face masks. Early in April, Ohio Children's Alliance staff asked if we could provide masks for foster care youth, caseworkers and supervisors. We sent out a request to our blanket angels, and of course you responded.
We provided the requested masks so that caseworkers can more safely make home visits. Since then, our mask-making enterprise has grown.
|
|
We provided 300 masks for Buckeye Ranch and then set up online ordering so that anyone can get masks for just $5 each. We have made arrangements with Southwest Airlines so that their employees can order masks in the airline's signature colors of red, yellow and blue!
To supplement the work of our volunteers, we have engaged three
former foster youth
-- Chloe Cooper, Nikki Chinn, and Juliana Barton (photos below) -- to sew masks for us, providing home-based work opportunities for them. You can read about these talented young women
here
.
Our masks are available to anyone for $5 each!
Order yours
here
. We will provide an assortment of mask styles, fabric patterns and color. You are encouraged to pick them up at our workshop, or we can ship for an additional fee.
Volunteer mask makers are still needed.
Make whatever style of mask that you prefer, and simply drop off your completed masks in the donation bin in front of our workshop. Thank you!
|
|
Mask Maker Snapshots
Read about our mask makers
here
.
|
|
Easy ways to give while you shop
|
|
Amazon Smile.
Purchase with purpose. Amazon donates to MVOB when you shop at
smile.amazon.com
.
|
|
Kroger Community Rewards.
Shop with your Plus Card to earn donations for MVOB. Enroll
here
. Our account: CG546.
MVOB received $226.98, Feb.- April, thanks to you!
|
|
National Headquarters Blanket Workshop Hours
Monday to Friday: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Drop your donation of finished blankets off at any time in the brown donation bin in front of our Blanket Workshop at 407 W. Main Street, Westerville, Ohio 43081
Questions? Need information?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
